(Newser)
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Competition for talented university graduates appears to be heating up: Health care giant Aetna has become the latest big company trying to woo young workers by offering to help them pay off their mountains of student debt, USA Today reports. Full-time employees who have earned degrees within the last three years will be granted up to $2,000 a year in matching loan payments, with a cap of $10,000, and part-time employees who work at least 20 hours a week will get up to $1,000 with a cap of $5,000, the company says. "By helping ease their financial burden, our employees can better focus on our mission of building a healthier world," says CEO Mark Bertolini.

Around 4,000 employees could be eligible for the program, which will begin payments at the beginning of 2017, according to a fact sheet that says the company wants to boost employee well-being by focusing on their "physical, mental, social, and financial health." USA Today notes that a handful of financial and tech firms competing for workers have started similar loan matching payment programs for employees, but experts estimate that firms with such programs make up only 3% to 4% of US companies. (This woman needs to pay off her $18,000 student debt before she can become a nun.)

Aetna's mission is not to build a healthier world, but to build a healthier corporate bottom line. Call it what it is. I've noticed that corporate mission statements are no more than feel-good sounding bullsh!t that's fed to the masses.

COLLECTOR123

Aug 11, 2016 8:05 AM CDT

Mark is very active politically. Many think he's vying for a presidential campaign at some point. He's someone who could win.